BROADCASTER Iain Dale has been called out for a tweet in which he compared Mhairi Black to unelected peers in the House of Lords.
LBC’s Iain Dale was reacting to the news that former Boris Johnson adviser Charlotte Owen, 30, and ex-Johnson aide Ross Kempsell, 31, have now both taken their places in the upper house.
Specifically, he responded to one user who commented that the fact they were so young “made the case for the abolition of the House of Lords”.
Their crime is not to be young. Their crime is to be Conservatives. This criticism comes from the same people who rejoiced in Mhairi Black's election and the election of a 25 year old on Thursday in Selby. The hypocrisy is breathtaking. https://t.co/dalQbSPoQS
— Iain Dale ⚒️🇺🇦 (@IainDale) July 24, 2023
Dale said: “Their crime is not to be young. Their crime is to be Conservatives. This criticism comes from the same people who rejoiced in Mhairi Black’s election and the election of a 25-year-old on Thursday in Selby.
“The hypocrisy is breathtaking.”
Black (below) has already announced that she will be stepping down at the next Westminster election, citing a “toxic workplace” as one of the key reasons behind her decisions.
The 25-year-old in question in Dale’s tweet is Keir Mather – who became the youngest MP in the House of Commons following Labour’s victory in the Selby and Ainsty by-election last Thursday.
Many were quick to point out to Dale that the anger over the House of Lords stemmed from the fact that peers are unelected.
Among them was Republic chief executive Graham Smith who said: “Their age is irrelevant, but they weren’t elected and have no business being in our parliament.
“The Lords stinks, but these appointments are particularly awful given who made them.”
SNP MP John Nicolson also commented: "There is, self-evidently, a glaring difference. MPs are elected. However young they are when elected they can be removed by voters.
"This pair are appointed by a disgraced politician and will be legislating for life. We cannot remove them. That's outrageous."
Former SNP councillor Mhairi Hunter also pointed out that Black was an elected representative while another user said: “I think the key word is election”.
A third questioned “what have either of them two done to warrant elevation into the House of Lords” while many others continued to point out that they had no issue with their ages - but that they were unelected and have seemingly done little to warrant their new role.
